Right, that is why I said "current console players".
As early as last summer Disney announced the release of their platinum line in BD live (2.0) format. http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/ne...ay-discs.phtml
However, it may very well be next summer before the new players actually hit the maket. From bluray.com:
Sony will be introducing two new Blu-ray Disc Players. One the first week of July 2008, Model# BDP-S350, which passes all high bit advanced audio codecs (like the Panasonic DMP-BD30) to an outboard decoder (Pre-Amp or Receiver) and will be Profile 2.0 for BD-Live. The other player, coming out the first week of August 2008, the BDP-S550, will incorperate all the high bit advanced audio codec decoders in the player and will also be Profile 2.0. Both are HDMI 1.3a, catagory 2 compliant (output). Load times are faster. Both will play CD's, but not SACD.
The tentative price points will be:
Sony BDP-S350 $ 349.99
Sony BDP-S550 $ 449.99

Erstwhile supporters of the now nearly defunct HD DVD format, like myself, might smugly point out that the hardware features newly mandated in Blu-ray 2.0 were already mandated in HD DVD 1.0 and that all HD DVD players on the market today can support the kinds of features that Blu-ray 2.0 will introduce.
When asked why current players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. "We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation."

Even though Blu-ray won the war, they are still behind the technology curve. Still, all of this may not matter much to consumers who just want to watch the movie and are not too interested in extra bonus features, etc. (Unless, as some suspect, at some time in the future, web connectivity becomes required to watch the movie.)

Rex,

The deal is, Blu-Ray should not have ever been launched in the condition and state it was in.
As you point out with these new Sony players just catching up to what HD DVD already had.
This whole thing is a big mess. To me, especially on the consumer level, there are no winners here. Just more upset people once again, more confusion.